Maaike Pols graduated as an immunologist from the University of Utrecht, The Netherlands, in 2007. As part of the Immunity and Infection Master's programme she completed a research project at the Cell Biology Department at the Faculty of Veterinary Sciences in Utrecht, working on exosome secretion by dendritic cells.

In October 2007 she started a PhD in the laboratory of Judith Klumperman in the Department of Cell Biology, University Medical Center Utrecht, The Netherlands, where she is currently investigating the role of the HOPS complex in lysosome biogenesis and function